Interview

by Ana Musat for Beauty of Life

I heard about Bodhi Sarango, and his postings on various social media networks. His views touched me deeply, so I conducted research about him. Here is what I found:

In short, I find Bodhi as a true explorer of Human consciousness. He traveled 11 years in Asia and India exploring deeply ancient wisdom of the east and combined eastern wisdom with western therapies and modern ways of coaching, Human Potential movement. He has studied NLP and coaching with Paul McKenna and Michael Neal and participated in Anthony Robins events. He is a founder of a new Body-Mind-Soul system called “Art of Transformation” that includes deep integrative Human Potential processes: a blend of Eastern wisdom and Western therapies, Cellular Healing, Bio Dynamic movement and breath work, Essential NLP, Hypnotherapy, Osho Active Meditations, Emotional Intelligence, Conscious Love integration, Mindfulness and Vocational Integration. Last 8 years, Bodhi has been sharing his work (sessions, workshops, retreats, festivals and conferences) worldwide in following countries: UK, China (Hong Kong), Brazil, Italy, India, Russia, Germany, France, Ukraine, Lithuania, Portugal, Romania, Luxembourg, Poland, Spain, UAE.
I was more than curious to know more and arranged an interview with him in Bucharest.

Hello Bodhi, what means your name? Tell us more about you …

My name is from Zen tradition and Bodhi means awareness and Sarango means lightning. I received it during my first visit in India and Asia in 2003. It immediately resonated inside and I used it privately for my inner search. But as time passed, I became known with this name and now it means in essence what I teach.

I am 43, born in Eastern Europe (very near to Iasi, eastern Romania).

Paradoxically, I am coming from scientific background, with a master degree in Computer Science, working many years as a manager in multinational corporations in Europe.

From childhood I was a dreamer, very curious about cosmos and its dynamics, mediocre and dull life was not for me. So I got attracted much into SF and books, lots of them. I. Asimov’s “Foundations” was my favorite.

Beginning of my student years started attraction towards philosophy, psychology and ancient wisdom …that interestingly deepened after reading A. Einstein and Newton, specially their last legacy essays on quantum physics, relativity, magnetic fields and how things are interconnected. I was amazed that such huge science people were deeply spiritual in the end of their lives. To me this was a shock.
So I can say that for me outer science created a path to explore inner science.

I was asking questions: Who are we? Why the world is made in such a way? Why this world is full of suffering? Why I am stressed and how I can change that and how I can help people after, how to create a better world?
This search, this quest made me travel and explore the world, to use every opportunity possible to understand life and its wisdom and specially got attracted to Human Potential movement and its developments, walked on many paths, yes so vast and amassing was this journey…That of course changed me deeply…

I saw that you are proposing a new synthesis, a new system to transform fast the individual ?

After collecting diamonds of transformation more than 15 years, the synthesis I am proposing in essence is a fusion of somatic therapy, regression, hypnosis and meditation. I call it “Art of Transformation” and has few modules:

First one is Rhythm of Happiness, where I focus on processing and removing traumas, deep fears, and negative emotions repressed by man and creating foundations for Inner Growth.Second module is Relationships Healing – based on understanding differences between Man and Woman polarities and how we can create a harmony circles, respecting typology and uniqueness of each individual, dynamics between love and freedom, so in essence art of creating truly happy and fulfilled couple.Third one deepens Creativity issues, opening of authenticity and finding true meaning in life, in essence the art of sharing.
The last one is about Team Building – work, team spirit, dynamics of communication, transforming usual pyramidal business system into organic sustainable system that respects and embraces uniqueness and talents of every individual in the team.

I have to say that everything I do apply in my workshops and sessions is tested on myself during years of experiments and refined after observing different typologies of man …I have lived and worked with people from so many different backgrounds and countries, in time became obvious what can be applied to every man and what has to be applied to the individual. So I live in the paradox: in the end we are One, but in the same time we are so unique…as problems differ, the solutions also differ…simple and complex in same time.

On what is based first module, how do you help people to discover themselves ?

Almost everyone in our society has deep traumas from the past but very few are aware of this fact …this is why we cannot really open up, our frustrations generate anger, sadness, depressions and we do not know why.

I realized that I have to find fast rocket methods because modern man does not have time to search; he wants results in few days at the most. We need fast methods of inner growth in this era of speed and technology.

Human mind generates, on average, between 50,000 and 70,000 thoughts a day and hundreds of emotions, many of them negative. But how many are aware of this fact of science?

We live in multidimensional world, the same science says that we see maximum 2% from reality, everything else is unconscious and super-conscious. We feel many things but we do not understand them … So this is why I focus in the beginning mostly on unconscious layer, to dig deeply into the roots of problems, to the roots of fear and hidden traumas.

From where are these fears, negative emotions coming?

In USA, probably the most positive country in the world, psychologists have conducted research on family and its effect on small children: studying the rate between encouragements and criticism given by the parents. The results shocked the scientists: 1 to 8 in USA. In Western Europe, in affluent countries like Germany or Netherlands, the rate is 1 to 12. The study stopped there, but you can imagine the results for poor countries.

So we can see that basically we are programmed to be negative the first 7 years of our life, exactly when the essential part of our mind is formed, we are programmed to be fearful, overprotective… and it is not because the people want it. This is an unaware process; humanity had 5,000 wars in 3,000 years from what we know and many other deep collective traumas. The society is evolving, but still for generation after generation these shocks are transferred unconsciously from one generation to the next… we do not know, but all these fears, repressions, traumas are in our actual cells and they become active in intense moments of life… By the way, fear or anger as such is part of our intelligence…but if fear is overwhelming, almost pathological, then you will be blocked, you will not be able to be free, happy, and creative.

These traumas are collected in different layers inside:

From 3 years to present time – the simple therapy or analysis can get to them relatively easily.

From 0 to 3 years old – the mind is not yet formed, but your cells, your body will know that something is not right in strange situations or with some kind of people – this is beginning of cellular layer and the reactions will be uncontrollable.

Embryonic (the 9 months during pregnancy) – if, for example, the child is not wanted or violence was around the mother, mother fears and traumas – the result will be that you will come already guarded into the world – and almost everything what you do in your life will be from fear, from protection …this will limit life big time.

Genetic or Karmic Traumas – are deeper and a separate subject of study

More than this, most of these fears are so unconscious that to be discovered one needs special methods like regression, hypnosis, somatic processes for relaxing deeply the mind, the body and emotions. …And medical science proves that overwhelmingly negative emotions, such as anger or fear, experienced over long periods of time will affect the blood. It will be poisoned by various toxins, and step-by-step the body will react by producing different illnesses. The mind is connected psychosomatically to the body., The mind and body is one mechanism actually. Pro-active actions on both the mind and the body are a must.

In my study and practice I observed all unconscious layers, digging to the roots. And as the tree has stronger and deeper roots then the tree will grow taller and healthier. I noticed years after years the amazing and immediate effects if one works to the roots.

So my system is a shortcut for those who want to evolve quickly; you do not need to waste years in Himalayas. In a few sessions and workshops you can discover and transform your fears, frustrations, so that you can open up to life, to love, with a new approach to live fully. …Sometimes even after one session I have seen people so relieved, having deep AHA moments, with an understanding of their own habits and patterns….

Hmmm, so how can we find Happiness Bodhi-san?

To have clarity about this synthesis, I structured the system along 4 dimensions:

The first one is Self Love. And our society says that is not good to love yourself too much, you can become selfish, a narcissist. But if we look in nature, the tree needs to be selfish; it needs water, nutrition, sun to be able to grow, to flower, to fruit. It can produce apples, good ones, only when they are ripe. Not before. One needs to be ripe in love. When you really love yourself, form that overflowing energy you can really share. To not share will be a burden in itself. So true altruism springs from your fulfillment, not before…

The second dimension as a must is Relationship Love. The main problem between man and woman is that no one teaches us about the different energetic polarities we have. We all have so many chaotic expectations, so we do not understand that we love differently. So one needs to understand his or her own polarity, the differences, the dynamics, and how we can create harmonic circles of this polarities.

We should not forget to work individually first, to understand our own nightmares, frustrations, masks.

And one need to realize that perfection does not exists as such. But if you replace perfection with totality, totality to live each present moment then things make sense.

Life is made of so many small moments. And if lived totally one can rise to bliss. It is like snowball effect. But if you are not living totally the small moments of life, then we block life, the flow. If we know to live the present then organically it builds into true happiness, fulfillment.

The third dimension, Creative Love, even if you managed the happy and deep relationship. We live in complex world and one needs to find harmony with all others. To be able to crystallize this, one needs to be creative, to find his mission, meaning, but this can happen only if you will listen to your true inner voice. And everyone has at least one talent to manifest; otherwise, life will be full of accidents and sadness.

From my experience, I have seen that everyone has, at the minimum, 1 basic talent and 2 support talents. They have to be discovered, evolved, integrated.

After you have grown all 3 dimensions, then true equilibrium appears in life, the feeling of deep realization arises and then you can manifest compassion organically– the fourth qualitative layer—Compassionate Love.

So what does compassion mean for you?

Many books, many people are talking about compassion; they say to be better with the others. But most of them talk just about flowers, forgetting totally about the roots.

Compassion has to be authentic, not a mask, a painted character. But we are used to a kind of compassion that is more a duty than a love.

I like to give the example of a beggar that goes to a fisherman. The first time it is ok to give to a stranger; that is part of your humanity. But the second time, he will become used to this trick and he will continue to beg. If you will continue to give him fish then you are supporting his begging patterns. In addition, you are also unconsciously creating a master-slave relationship, feeling yourself better, more important…so this is how we create this master-slave society, forgetting that human dignity should come first.

Real compassion is to show him how to fish to help his awareness… so next time you can talk about how many fish one has as friends, as equals, with dignity and respect. This is true compassion to me. Awareness with love is real compassion, but one has to nurture them both and synthesis happens when you are ready. Before that one should at least have clarity about the situation.

Help people to grow, to gain their dignity, their respect but do not force anyone. If he does not want to learn, it is not your business to force it…maybe he needs more lessons of life, maybe he needs a different typology, different man to be able to open up and receive the gift.

We talked about relationships, what’s your opinion about marriage; do we need to find a “soul mate” to be happy?

Often women think in these terms, because the woman is more fulfilled if she belongs. As I see it, both man and woman need a second dimension of love.

Recently, in the last 3-5 years, the inner search has become a priority for many. But still people forget to grow essential parts. This is why many end up bored; they cannot find their creativity or a deep intimate relationship.

As I said before we all looking for perfection, for a Cleopatra or Don Juan, but such people only exist in books and movies. Even if you find your Cleopatra, she will be a real woman , with her ups and downs …it is important to talk about real people, not imagined characters… but we forget reality. And many are so lazy for inner work and insistently are looking outside for a savior. When you face reality problems are bound to return. One cannot avoid reality too much, but still some manage to do so.

When one really opens up, everything starts to change quickly, step- by-step new people will appear around you, especially the creative and more open-minded ones. When your vibration and emotional dynamics change you will attract more compatible people …

About marriage, this is just a phase of human relationships, probably in 100 years it will disappear as we know it. Even now in western countries only 20% of people prefer marriage; it became obvious, so you can see the tendency… But the deep relationship based on freedom and respect of individual is a totally different issue. Such relationships will not be rigid; the woman can change, man is changing and in 3-5 years you may notice that you are not fitting anymore, even if before it appeared as perfect to you.

But we cling too much to one person forgetting that the whole idea is to grow, to be fulfilled together. If this growth is not there anymore, no more joys and is just a routine – what is the point to keep it? And arguments will be silly, why not have some gratitude and depart with deep respect for the years of love and partnership?

If you continue to grow inside, this is what real maturity means. One day you might find a partner that really fits you, even to the last days of your life. But to me this is a question of inner harmony first, and then with wisdom comes outer harmony. But one needs deep trust and letting go for that.

I was talking before about polarities. Energetic polarities are complex phenomena, but actual society does not know even basics of it. It is an art.

For example, the positions individuals assume when a couple sleeps together.

From ancient wisdom, we know that left side is feminine side, right side masculine side for both genders. And if the woman sleeps on the left side of her man, then, her masculine part will affect his feminine part. This can disturb deeply rhythm and dynamics of polarities and in time destroy totally the attraction between the two. The correct way is woman on right side. This is just a small simple example. I talk more on this and all subjects above in my events. I am also preparing a book on the same subject that will appear probably in summer 2016.

About Creativity. More and more people hate their job …

Yes, this is true. Most of the time, we have been forced into things. Generally, parents are pushing the child to fulfill their own expectations and desires that they could not fulfill. Sometimes this is a matter of money or respectability of the society. …So this is how most people end up bored, doing things they never wanted to do, doing all life things that are not natural to them, trying to fulfill the expectations of others, even forcing themselves to do it to the very end. Sadness and deep anxiety is bound to arise sooner or latter.

One needs to realize the difference: when things belong to you as opposed to things that are forced upon you….listen to your inner voice. But this is again an inner task to unveil. They are connected.

We live in a society that is supporting competition, ambition and not vocation. But if you look into most realized people like Einstein, or Mozart, they got that quality of being because they really followed their inner voice, their passion. They never followed others, or compared themselves to others.

This does not mean that you should run now from your actual job, to start a new career as a dancer or singer…this will not be wise. But you can take some dancing lessons, some canto lessons after work, enjoy karaoke for example …generally open the heart. Move into art, explore something creative as a essential part of your life. Art will give you a new dimension, it make life spicy, full of juices and rhythm.

And if you combine the inner growth and creative side, and you are more and more total in what you do…then frustrations and sadness and boredom will vanish …then you will be on the right path, doing what you really love to do in life.

In time, you can make the transition to new career, to become a professional in what you love. But in the beginning it has to be just to be joyful, just for wanting to experiment and explore, money and profit has to be secondary …view it as a by-product.

The world evolved in the past few decades with such speed and intensity, so many new opportunities appear into reality …so one has to open to flow. If you continue to grow you will find out that life is deeply wise and your passion is organic part of it.

Tell us few practical recommendations for people who are on the path?

Many people try to be silent, to be Zen, to meditate. But they soon get bored and feel like meditation is not for them, that they are somehow different. The reason why this occurs is that people do not see the results because they are full of repressions, unconscious fears, anger, frustrations as I said earlier.

My suggestion is to process these fears and repressions. You need to first clean yourself from this heavy load, otherwise most passive methods (of meditation) will not work.

Psychologists discovered that an angry man is really a fearful man, anger is there to protect the fear.

I recommend a simple exercise that can be done at home, alone, with closed eyes. Take a pillow and focus on few people that have done harm to you in the past… Start by imagining them; beat the pillow and imagine that you are beating them. Focus on each individual for 1-2 minutes. In each instance, find a key person that really pushes your buttons. After, if you feel the need to cry and weep, do it until you become silent naturally. Repeat this 1-2 times a week.

I suggest that you come to the group workshops and sessions. There we can focus in depth and in detail, and the community around us can also be a support for your growth which can be more organic and provide immediate results.

For more introverted people, a better approach is the individual session, which can provide a step-by-step process to participate in workshops as well.

So I help people to get out as fast as possible from inertia, from rigidity and traumas, after I teach them self help. At the same time remaining healthy, integrated, and balanced.

Thank you Bodhi for your time and your generous answers. We will be back.